coins.  Certainly there was a British camp quite near it, as well as a magnificent Roman camp, with gates and ditch and mounds still as complete as when the Romans left it.  It was, moreover, close to the Icknield Way, 856 feet above sea-level, from which portions of eleven counties could be seen.  On a clear day a view of the horse could be obtained from places many miles distant, its white form showing clearly against the green turf surrounding it.

[Illustration:  THE ICKNIELD WAY, LOOKING FROM THE WHITE HORSE.]

[Illustration:  “BLOWING STONE”:  ALFRED’S BUGLE HORN.]

Occasionally the outline had been obscured by the growth of turf and weeds, and then the lord of the manor had requisitioned the services of the inhabitants of several of the pretty villages near the downs, who climbed up to the horse at the appointed time and, armed with picks, spades, and brushes, “scoured” the horse until it was quite white again, and its proportions clearly shown.  After their work was done a round of merry-making followed, the occasion being celebrated by eating and drinking to the health of his lordship at his expense.  The first verse in the “White Horse Ballad,” written in the local dialect, was: 

  The ould White Horse wants zettin’ to rights. 
    And the Squire has promised good cheer;
  Zo we’ll gee un a scrape to kip’ un in shape,
    And a’ll last for many a year.

A Roman road skirted the foot of the White Horse Hill, and on the side of this road was a strangely shaped sarsen-stone called the “Blowing Stone.”  It was quite a large stone, in which holes had been formed by nature, running through it in every direction like a sponge.  It was said to have been used by King Alfred to summon his troops, as by blowing down one of the holes a booing sound was produced from the other holes in the stone.  On a later occasion my brother tried to make it sound, and failed to do so, because he did not know the “knack,” but a yeoman’s wife who was standing near, and who was quite amused at his efforts to produce a sound, said, “Let me try,” and astonished him by blowing a loud and prolonged blast of a deep moaning sound that could have been heard far away.  The third verse in the ballad referred to it as: 

  The Blewin Stun, in days gone by,
    Wur King Alfred’s bugle harn,
  And the tharn tree you med plainly zee. 
    As is called King Alfred’s tharn!

The thorn tree marked the spot where the rival armies met—­the pagans posted on the hill, and the Christians meeting them from below—­it was through the great victory won on that occasion that England became a Christian nation.